


Fatherhood

by AliceDarkRose



Series: Frye's Legacy [4]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Death in Childbirth, F/M, References to Depression, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 07:58:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12649404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceDarkRose/pseuds/AliceDarkRose
Summary: Crawley, Autumn of 1847.Ethan and Cecily Frye are going to be parents for the first time and neither of them imagines what is going to happen and how it will change their lives forever.





	Fatherhood

**Author's Note:**

> This story is sad, I know it, but it explains what happened when the Frye twins were born and Why Ethan did what he did.  
> So, I hope you´ll enjoy it.  
> p.d: Sorry for any grammar mistakes, English is not my first language.

**October 28th, 1847**

\- Ethan, I'm sick of this - Cecily said from the bed, her hair stretched out on the pillow, her bulging belly marking under the blankets. Her husband just smiled.  
\- Just a little bit more, the midwife says that a couple of weeks more and everything will be over-  
\- That’s wrong, a couple of weeks more, and we'll have a baby crying at all hours and the house will be filled with dirty toys and diapers. - Cecily's apparent despair only provoked Ethan's laughter as he approached and kissed her belly. - Be good to your mother, boy - he whispered.  
\- How are you sure he's a boy? - His wife asked, smiling.  
\- It's a Frye! - Of course it will be a boy! Besides, I've been mentalizing for almost nine months to raise another like me, you'd better be a boy. - After a few seconds Cecily opened her eyes in surprise.  
\- You want a girl! - She covered his mouth to hide her laughter.  
-That’s a lie!  
\- I thought you had overcome your panic to be father to yourself three months ago. - Cecily could not help but laugh at the situation.  
\- And I did - Ethan tried to appear serious or at least look offended but without much success.  
\- I knew you wanted your little princess Evie, accept it.- Ethan lay down beside her before he hugged her.  
\- It will be a boy - he replied very dignified. - And with luck he will get more from you than from me.  
Cecily huddled against her husband “Just a couple of weeks longer." she thought, stroking her belly and praying that the baby would let her sleep that night.

**November 9th 1847 4:00 a.m.**

Cecily paced uneasily around the room while her husband slept soundly on the bed. She had awakened with discomfort in her belly but had decided not to wake him, it wasn’t the first nor the second time she noticed discomforts that were then left in nothing. And Ethan got so nervous every time he thought it was time. That night Cecily decided to let him sleep and walk until the pains passed.  
She sat on the window sill and looked at the moonlit Ethan, she couldn’t help but smile. Ethan had gone through many stages since he knew he was going to be a father: from the uttermost panic to utter self-denial, and possibly to follow one another by day. He was an expert at keeping all those emotions hidden in front of the others, but with Cecily he was a different man. Since he decided that panic was not an option (back in the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy) he had turned into a good father: He had transformed the adjoining room, even had built a cradle with his own hands, whenever he had free time he had dedicated it to be with her, to make plans and ask questions including some that only women should know, but Ethan could be very persuasive. In the end the midwife agreed that he knew all the details.  
"Ethan will be a good father." Cecily thought, and that reassured her. Giving birth frightened her but knowing that if something went wrong Ethan would be there for the baby gave her the courage she needed to keep going.  
Suddenly she besieged as the discomfort intensified, she breathed several times to avoid shouting, she didn’t want to wake Ethan  
\- What's the matter, little one? - He whispered to her belly. - I don’t know what you have to not to sleep at night. - As if he were responding, she noticed another wave of sharp pain in the lower part of his belly. - You know how to kick, at the end your father will be right and you will be a boy like him. Jacob …-  
She couldn't hold back the next wave of pain and a small cry escaped her lips as she clutched at her belly. That pain was nothing she had experienced before, the moment had come, she was going to give birth.

**November 9th, 1847 3:30 pm**

Ethan was sitting in his office staring at an empty Whiskey glass. Beside him, George watched carefully, Ethan was very quiet, too much quiet. Upstairs, Cecily was still struggling to give birth and the only thing they could do was wait.  
When Ethan reached for the bottle once more, George intervened.  
\- Don’t you think you've had enough? At this stage you will be unconscious when the baby is born.  
\- Whiskey is the only thing that calms my nerves and as long as they do not let me get in there I have nothing else to do.  
Ethan was a bundle of nerves, although his appearance did not make it obvious, for those who knew him was very clear.  
At dawn he looked like a headless chicken, as George had found him leaving his room. Ethan was running around repeating what he had to do and whom to look for. If the situation wasn’t so serious it had been even hilarious.  
With the arrival of the midwife things had taken some order. Cecily had been moved to one of the guest rooms and the men had been thrown out of the whole process.  
Then Ethan and George had locked themselves in the office and had tried to maintain their good humor. That was 10 hours ago. Ethan had lost the urge to talk and good humor as the hours went by without news and Cecily's screams grew louder.  
\- All will be fine, the midwife has said that these things take time - George was trying to get Ethan out of his ostracism, only God knew what could be happening through the Master Assassin's head.  
\- It's very easy to say it when it's not your wife who's up there screaming."  
\- She is also my friend and mentor  
\- Sorry - Ethan said after a few seconds - the wait is driving me crazy.-  
\- I know.

**6:00 pm**

The cries of Cecily followed every few minutes and reverberated throughout the house.  
The whiskey bottle was gone an hour ago and Ethan and George had left the office to move to the landing in front of the room where everything was happening.  
George paced back and forth without taking his eyes off his mentor, especially every time the screams rose.  
Ethan was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall just in front of the room in question. He stared at the closed door like a beast waiting to leap over its prey.  
he had tried to come in, talk to Cecily, know what the hell was going on. But he had only received bland answers, no information, and of course refusal to enter. The sun had gone up and down on the horizon and had been hiding again since Cecily had woken him up by saying that the baby was on the way. And there he was, kept waiting.

 

The intensity of the screams increased, if that were possible, and George looked at Ethan. No words were needed, they both knew what that meant.  
With a last cry the silence fell and for a few seconds the world seemed to stop until another cry, this time a baby crying, started it.  
Ethan pounced on the door, ignoring George's protests.  
\- Cecily !! - he exclaimed as soon as he entered, but was shocked by the sight of the scene before him.  
His wife lay on the bed panting, covered with sweat, pale and with large dark bags under her eyes. The bed was soaked and bloody, there was blood everywhere. And at the feet of the bed ... at the feet of the bed were the midwives holding a bloody and whining bulk.  
The smell did not help to soften the scene either: The smell of blood and other fluids that Ethan did not know or did not want to recognize assaulted his nose and made him wince.  
After that first impression he remembered why he was there and ran with his wife. He held her hand, caressed her cheek soaked with sweat and tears and in return she gave him a weak smile.  
\- It's ... it's a girl.- That was all Ethan needed. Cecily was alive, her daughter had just been born. Ethan breathed a sigh of relief as the fears that had been wrought in his mind over the last few hours dissipated. He turned slightly to watch the midwives clean and clothe their daughter before showing her.  
In that moment Cecily squeezed his hand and screamed again. The scream penetrated his head and made him terrified of his wife and then the midwives. Something wasn’t right. The baby was born, why was Cecily still shouting?  
The midwives had also been shocked to hear the screams and the worry was drawn on their faces after a little examination to Cecily.  
\- There's another one - they said, and then they began to give orders. - Mr. Frye has to leave the room, we have not finished yet.-  
\- I'm not going anywhere. And what is it that there is another, another what? - Her voice sounded rushing and Cecily kept squeezing his hand, begging him not to leave her alone.  
\- Another baby, Mr. Frye. And I must urge you to leave the room - the midwife tried to stay calm but was not having much effect on the marriage.  
\- I will not leave my wife and it doesn’t matter … - Ethan was interrupted by a new scream that caused the midwife to take action.  
It didn’t matter if Ethan was or was not where he should be, the baby was pushing to get out and the mother had to help him. The midwife tried to get Cecily to understand the gravity of the situation, they had to get that baby out of her. But the young mother only repeated that she was incapable. She was scared and tired, she had been in labor for more than 15 hours and felt that she could not do more, that she would not be able to do it all over again.  
Ethan was beside her on his knees beside the bed and without letting go of his hand, looked at her pleadingly and all he got was hee frightened and worried look.  
\- You have to, Cecily. You can do it, I know you can do it. - Ethan tried to cheer up his wife but also to encourage himself. In the back of his mind the idea of what was to come was forming, and it was like peering into a bottomless abyss. Cecily had to get out of this. - Just a little more - he said to the girl's denials. - A little more and it'll all be over, I promise.-  
\- Do you promise? - She asked in a whisper, almost a sigh.  
\- I promise. - Ethan sat next to his wife and held her in an attempt to give her the strength she lacked.  
For the next few minutes the midwife pulled the baby and Cecily pushed with the few remaining strength. Ethan watched as his son was born and as soon as his wife collapsed in his arms, without strength, breathless and, as a voice in his head, almost lifeless.  
In the distance, very far away the midwife said that it was a boy, cleaned and clothed the baby. But Ethan was not paying attention. All of him was with Cecily, he was shouting at her. She could not leave, she could not leave him, not now. But he barely got a faint reply from her. Her hands were no longer squeezing tightly, with no force. And her breath hardly lifted her chest. The only thing that seemed to stay alive was his eyes, scared and drenched in tears that did not deviate from Ethan's.  
\- Take care of them, Ethan. Take care of our little treasure and tell them that I love them ... Just as I love you - she said, and with that she cast a last glance at her two little ones, who were in the arms of the midwives on the other side of the room, and another to her husband. She tried to smile as she let go and died in Ethan's arms.

**November 10th 1847 10:00 a.m.**

George returned to the Frye’s family home after having handled the sad news, Cecily Frye had died giving birth to twins. Apart from the council, he had been in charge of notifying the mother of the deceased and requesting a nurse of urgency. The babies had only stopped crying out of sheer exhaustion but they were hungry and had not felt the arms of an adult since the midwives had left. Ethan was not an option; after Cecily's death she had lost his mind. Hee had shouted the whole world out of the room and had embraced the corpse of his wife in a vain attempt to get her back.  
George sneaked up to the first floor and looked discreetly into the room where Cecily lay, she was alone, the sheets scrambled but no trace of Ethan.  
Maybe Ethan had come back to his mind and was with his children, that would make things much easier. But to George's disappointment the babies were alone, sleeping in the crib hugging each other.

Ethan open his eye slowly, he had his favorite revolver before him, his father had given it to him when he turned 12 and it had never failed him .  
He took it into his hands as the faces of all those who had gone before him passed through his mind: his mother, his father, Anthony, Christopher, Melanie, Eveline and now ... Cecily. No counting all the friends fallen in combat or even some innocent that he had not been able to save. He felt that death was chasing him, she had taken as many as she had wanted and for some reason always left him behind, always let him live, alone against the world.  
He looked back at the revolver, a bullet, all that separated him from his loved ones was a bullet, one of the five in the drum of the gun, one would be enough.  
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the gun against his temple, he just had to pull the trigger, he just had ...  
The shot reverberated throughout the house and for a moment everything seemed to stop.

Ethan opened his eyes to discover that he was still alive and to meet the horrified face of George holding the revolver in his hand. Ethan stared back at him, but didn’t say a thing. He watched impassively as George took all the guns to hide them, he only left his hidden dagger but Ethan couldn’t use it to end his life. Using his own dagger to end his life had a very concrete meaning, it was a confession of betrayal to the brotherhood and George knew that Ethan would not fall so low.  
Ethan exploded with anger: he destroyed everything in the study trying to ignore the crying of his children, who were screaming in the upstairs.

**November 15th 1847 4:15 a.m.**  
Cecily had been buried three days ago; it had been a simple, discreet funeral. His mother had decided to stay for a few days until the brood nurse was done with the children and the routine and Ethan had not opposed, in fact had not even talked with her more than a couple of polite exchanges at the funeral. Nor had he deigned to go and see his children even though he could not get his weeping out of his head. He lived locked in his office surrounded by the remnants of his rages.  
All he'd done in those three days was to put all of Cecily's things in boxes and stuff them into the back of the attic or throw them away. He had intended to make her disappear from his life, to remove all trace of her, thereby trying to alleviate the pain he felt. Only his children remained.  
He opened one of the drawers and pulled out two velvet boxes. He'd almost forgotten about them, but the memories filled his mind without him being able to avoid it.  
It had been several months ago, while walking with Cecily, she had stopped in front of a jewelry store and had fallen in love with a silver rattle with animal decorations and the baby's name engraved. At that time they had not bought it because they did not know if it would be a boy or a girl, but Ethan had returned the next day to buy one from each. He intended to give it to Cecily as soon as she gave birth and save the other for ... for the next baby.  
Ironically, he had no wife to surprise, and he had a boy and a girl who needed something to quell their crying.  
With trembling hands he opened the boxes inside, as he hoped, there were two silver rattles, one adorned with horses and the name of Evie engraved and another with the name of Jacob and bears as a decoration.  
Not knowing very well what he was doing, he left the office with the rattles in his hand and went upstairs, entered the children's room for the first time and approached the cradle leaving the rattles next to it. There with their arms hooked on each other were their children, sleeping like little angels, totally oblivious to the pain they had unleashed. They were the last thing remaining of Cecily's legacy, the last proof of her passing through this world.  
The cradle began to sway violently, Ethan had clung to her so hard that his knuckles had gone white. He couldn’t look away from the babies but his thoughts were not there, they were in a very dark place, showing him what would become his worst nightmare.  
Suddenly Ethan parted from the cradle, gasping like a fish out of the water, pale and sweaty, and his face disengaged. He had seen what he would be capable of if he didn’t control his impulses, what he would do if he stayed in that house any longer. He backed away from the crib, and as soon as he crossed the door he went straight to his room, made a decision.  
He picked up some clothes, his hidden blade and coat, and then left the house.  
He ran into the early hours of the morning, and when he got to the station, he jumped on the first train to the port of Brighton.  
His mother-in-law would take care of the babies, much better than he would be able to. At least they would be safe.  
And as for George and the council ... He would write them from Brighton, he would explain their motives, well not all. The real motive, what drove him to leave everything behind, to flee away from his home, should remain in secret because, if someone discover it, he wouldn’t be able to bear the shame.


End file.
